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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carnifex" data-source="post: 234937" data-attributes="member: 227">The Corvus Company head into the wizard's guild...Alaric nodded to Melisande's suggestion. "Yes, perhaps we should take a look." He turned back to the clerk and paid the due."Why, thank you, Squire. What a gentleman!" Melisande smiled sweetly, taking the Flame Hawk's arm as they were led to the library, and sending Sebastion Cornell a look that was supposed to mean, take a lesson.                                                            * * *The wizards' guild libraries lay beneath the building; a mage librarian led them down stairs into the upper vault, a room of significant size filled with rows of books and shelving, musty tomes and newer works, amidst which people moved, slowly browsing the available texts.It took little time for the librarian to locate the Occult Manual, and she left the band at a small reading support with the tome as she disappeared off into the maze of shelves. The book lay before them, thick and heavy with a tough leather cover into which the title had been laboriously inked in elaborate style."How fascinating..." came a placid voice behind them. "What beautiful lettering..."Ebri Zol stood on her tiptoes, trying to see over the shoulders of the taller members of the company. "And really, much more interesting than what I have here." Ebri closed the tome on medicinal plants she'd been holding open against her chest, placing a finger in it to mark her place. Smiling, she gestured with the book. "What one learns from plants is that one has time to study them. Plants, they are very... still. And stable. And much the same from year to year. They go through the same patterns again and again, and the different faces they show to us are only a matter of time and weather and season.""I'm glad to find you again so easily," Ebri continued, "I hurried ahead at the gates, in my haste to pay my respects to the temple, and to puchase some supplies I dearly needed, and when I returned to the gate area to find you, you were nowhere in sight. I should have known, with such scholars among you, to find you in the library. Have you been to Corvus City before?"DM Note: Ebri was making quite a lot of use of her Bluff skill here <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> Nearby Meg'anna stood; the library didnt offer much to the likings of her. She was literate, but the heavy tomes held little interest for the woman who seemed to be developing a mild case of claustrophobia. Maybe it was city-phobia. It was making her nervous and she stamped her foot impatiently as the others scanned the shelves for the manuals they desired.Delighted by the unexpected presence of Ebri Zol, and rather relieved that the wise woman had not witnessed her little misunderstanding with the sorcerer, Mel turned an instant from the Occult Manual to grin at her."Oh, but I've always found plants alchemically rather aggressive under all that placid exterior. They quibble among themselves constantly for light, space and pollinators, and some can be quite deliberately poisonous..." She could go on for hours, but the Occult Manual drew her back with its hefty promise of enlightenment. She waved a blue hand, switching mental tracks. "Never mind. I'm glad you're back, Ebri; that was excellent timing."What we have here is Hathelbert's Occult Manual of the Demonic and Celestial. I'm about to look up a few things about the Great Prophet, Nephians and aasimar, if you'd like to join me. Perhaps there are a few things you could add..."Sebastion resisted the urge to poke his tongue out at Melisande as they were led down into the cellars, the large vault something of a surprise given the relatively small upper floors. Not, however, quite so much of a surprise as the reappearance of Ebri Zol. Dropping back from the witches muttering to each other at the front, concerned with this tome and that treatise, he slipped into step next to her."What happened to you, out there?" he asked, trying to make conversation. This place really wasn't for him, and though he didn't feel nervous, he did feel rather like the fifth leg on a horse... "Why, nothing much of consequence," Ebri told him, shrugging rather ruefully. "--except that I was seriously overcharged for some lukewarm vegetable stew at that stall a few streets over-- between here and the temple... I visited the temple, consulted with my superiors, prayed, rested, replenished my supplies-- I badly needed oil for my hair-- and came here to read. It is so rare that one has a chance to spend time in a good library... Not very exciting, I'm afraid. How have your first days in Corvus City been?"DM Note: Bluffing again <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Sebastion nodded at Ebri's explanation, catching sight of the deep gouge in the Mimir's surface as it was passed across. It left him wondering if the thing was easily damaged, and whether the score would have done any damage.Trying not to appear too hopelessly out of place, he turned to the nearest shelf and began perusing the titles carefully, slowly, with no real intention of picking anything out. Melisande began her search through the Occult Manual. Surprisingly, she found the reference that the person recorded on the mimir had made very quickly.Here it was, some several dozen pages in. The inscription from the tombs, that particular word that Melisande hadn't been able to translate since she'd never encountered the symbol before.Azrael.The book seemed to be made of lots of individual texts on various topics, mostly by Hathelbert himself but also by other contributors. This particular text had the drakkath symbol at the top and the translation, and was indeed one of Hathelberts own writings.Mention of Azraels are few and far between. Searching out scholars in Naseria, Cryosia and Avorasa gave me answers indicating that Azraels are 'angels of death' - essentially, divine beings involved in the ushering of souls into the afterlife in an orderly manner, that they might arrive at where they are supposed to be. They are often depicetd as tall, winged beasts with skin of metal and bearing many armaments of war.Further research on my part indicates that these angels of death inhabit a place called the 'Palace of Shadows' in the plane of existence called Nirvana or Mechanus, a massive fortress from which they recieve, judge and allocate souls of the dead.Azraels do not seem to be the divine servants of any particular deity, or at least none that we are aware of. By all accounts, an encounter with an Azrael is likely to be dangerous, and there are a few folk tales that in the days of the divine war between the Elders and the Youngers, Azraels plowed swathes of destruction over the landscape, unfettered and uncontrolled. It is possible that they were servants of an Elder God, now masterless and independent. If so, we can only be thankful that they seem to have taken on the relatively peaceful role of marshalling the dead.That seemed to be all there is on that particular topic. It appeared that it was one of the more obscure facets of the book. Mel looked up from the book with a creased brow."Ebri, may I use the mimir? I'd like it to read back to me the inscription from the tombs."Even while she waited, her mind raced. What would the Azrael have to do with the Great Prophet? Were the Nephians worshippers of these renegade sub-gods? She had thought to find answers to her questions in this book; instead she found another piece to a puzzle that now appeared far larger than she had thought before. It was frustrating, but also fascinating."Why, of course..." Ebri replied, reaching into the folds of her wool wrap, and retrieving the mimir. She set it on the table next to the book. Oddly enough, the mimir now had a long scratch-scuff mark along its otherwise smooth metal cranium. "There you are. I'd be surprised, really, if there's anything in there about the Nephians. They don't usually let information be written about them. Though I don't see why, really. It hardly makes sense, if they want to keep themselves secret. It makes the rest of us all that much more curious! Nothing like a juicy secret!"The mimir spoke forth its recording at Melisande's command."Here we commemorate <unknown symbol> who perished in duty, giving his life in battle against the Reaver that the Abomination might be stopped. He is embraced back into the shadows, to serve as <unknown symbol> on the ramparts of Law, in defence of the most sacred, as is his due reward."Further reading of the Occult Manual brought up further references of the subjects Melisande was researching in.Aasimar.Aasimar is the term denoting an individual touched by the haevenly planes. This may be in the form of celestial heritage in their blood, or simply by the influence of the heavens upon their body and mind. Their appearance and personality often reflects this, but there is no defining feature by which one can identify an aasimar for sure.The closest Mel could find to anything about Nephians wasNephias.Nephias was one of the evil Elder Gods, master of dark magic and intrigue, Lord of Change and Sorcery. It is said he always appeared as a shadowy, massive spider, composed entirely of evil magic and thirsting for the corruption of all peoples to his dark ways. Some say Nephias was the god who created magic itself, weaving a web of energy across the world that arcanists could access; my time amongst gnoll shamans of the Red Wolf tribe in Avorasa exposed me to stories that he also wove the 'web of life', a magical tapestry that holds together all creation.Nephias is one of the Elder Gods who is known to have definitely been slain during the Divine War. Unlike such Elders as Shauku or Hashrukk, who endured as mere shades of their former power, the life-spark of Nephias was extinguished totally by Naskha the Great Sorcerer.There was no mention of the Great Prophet nor the eye symbol that Mel bore round her neck. Gently, Melisande closed the book and turned to the mimir. "Mimir, amend that recording with this footnote. The second unrecognizable symbol in this inscription appears to be 'Azrael', which Hathelbert's describes as an 'angel of death', or a semi-divine entity whose duty is to guide the souls of the dead across the planes. These Azrael may once have been part of the entourage of an Elder God no longer in existence, and although fierce and dangerous they seem happy enough to stick to their duty as guides to the dead. Note: could they have been servants of Nephias? End recording."With a sigh of frustration, she returned the book to its shelf and collected the mimir from the bookstand. "What happened while you were eating soup, Ebri? The mimir looks like someone played hoops with it." Before Ebri could reply, Mel put her hand to her lips, realizing there were a few more things she needed to learn."Sebastion, if you've nothing else to do, why don't you help me look up some historical facts? You might learn something useful for your--your project. Find a history book and see if you can't dig up anything about a war with 'the Reaver' or 'the Abomination', or anything about Nephian assassins and the Flame Guild. All right?"Sebastion gestured towards the bookshelf with an aggrieved expression as though to ask what she thought he was doing. A quick look back showed him that he was, in fact, in quite the wrong section, and he slowly shuffled along the shelf until he found where he should be."There you go..." he said, laying the first possibility before her, then continued back to the shelf to find something more. After some time, and with Melisande still deep within her studies, he started to peer around the shelves looking, rather hopefully, for titles about integrating warfare and magic.This wasn't the place to read it, but knowing the title and author might help him to find it later, when he had the money and the wherewithal to get his own copy, and not have to beg to for money to borrow a book from someone else... Running her finger along the shelves Melisande began searching out the religion section, hoping to find more about the Elder God Nephias and the Azrael, or the cult of the Great Prophet.It wasn't too hard to find out more about Nephias - all she had to do was look at one of the many history books detailing the divine war between Elder and Younger gods. Nephias, the dark, sorcerous horror.Commonly, creation tales featured the Elder Gods as somehow arising from the four elemental lords as these creator beings slumbered - if the Elders were indeed dreams of the lords, then they were nightmares too. A dozen books chronicled each, from the mind-twisting vileness of the Daemonflesh Hashrukk and its capability to sculpt and twist life as its warped sentience wished, to the wanton destruction of Gilamesh the Dragon Lord, creator of the dragons and devastator of great tracts of land. Nephias was one of the most powerful of the Elders, a terrifying being of pure magic that seemed most often to take the form of a great, dark arachnid; indeed, spiders were said to have been created in its image. Many tales spoke of how when life first came into being on the world at the behest of the Elders, Nephias wove a great web around the world as a cocoon to protect it from dangers, and this web was magic itself, spawned by the World Spider's own will and the source of power from which spellcasters drew their energies.The Elder Gods seemed full of paradoxes - such acts of creation and benevolence, yet also such mind-twisting horror and evil. Nephias, who twisted human emperors to fight each other, corrupting them and driving them into proud insanities; who fostered and mastered the arts of necromancy and spread them to the most vile peoples it could find; and who spun a web to protect life and nurture all beings. There seemed to be no logic, rhyme nor reason.When the Younger Gods and their followers locked away the secret of the Elder Gods power, Nephias found itself permanently manifested as a great, bloated spider; it was in this form that the Elder god of magic was struck down by the magics of Naskha in the great battle of the war, permanently slain and its essence extinguished for good.Tales of Azrael were few, and more or less as the Occult Manual described them. Usually described as marshals of the dead or judges of the afterlife, the books in the library could tell Mel no more than she already knew.The Great Prophet gained some few meagre mentions; considered as a minor cult dedicated to some prophet from ancient times who had, reputedly, spoken some prophecy of the future, and who was worshipped for its aspects of foresight, planning and suchlike. Beyond this there really was no more that she could find. Searching through the history books to be found in this library turned up nothing that seemed to be of any significance on the terms 'Reaver' nor 'Abomination'. The books Sebastion came across did, however, make mention of Nephians - the mystical sect of assassins who dwelt high in the Sarokean mountains. All that could be gleaned, more or less, was that they had little contact with the outside world except in their role as assassins-for-hire, a role in which they seemed totally neutral in who they worked for, and practicsed no ulterior motives of their own. Of course, rumour was rife that the strange gray-clad Nephians did indeed have ulterior motives, but nothing conclusive had been reached. With monasteries hidden away deep in the mountains and in difficult-to-reach places, the Nephians had little to fear from anyone else.There was plenty on the Flame Guild. A large guild of battlemages spanning Huron and Carthagia, the Flame Guild were effectively mercenary war wizards, largely made up of fire-mage evokers. With a history dating back several hundred years and a long and proud tradition of battle-magic, the Guild was very influential, providing the bulk of arcane support for the Huronese armies. Their headquarters in Carthagia, the Pyre of Gilamesh, was built on the site where that Elder god had finally been slain, its fiery essence used as an artifact of great power to aid guild members by providing a magical reservoir of energy from which they could all draw evocational magics in times of need. The current Guildmaster, Joven Girrus, was a Huronese war wizard of great power and also skill at arms.Sebastion found within information on the Flame Guild a great deal to be learned on the art of battle-magic, and how it could be intertwined with conventional warfare for the best of results. He also came across a slim volume, the manual of war written, allegedly, by the warlord of ancient times, Korellius. Within its pages the soldier found only a small section applicable to the integration of magic and battle, but nonetheless the few pieces of wisdom that the legendary warrior had written on the subject seemed well thought-out and clear; there simply wasn't very much there, though."Well, that about does it for me," Mel sighed, closing the last book with a shrug. Until she managed dig up better sources, she would have to make do with what she had. "I guess... I guess the next step after a bath and a good night's sleep--and maybe some of that soup, Ebri?--is figuring out how to earn a few gold pieces before we head north." She gave Alaric an embarrassed glance."Lead away, Squire. I don't suppose a noble of your station would know much about employment in Corvus City, but--but do you? I can work up a little sorcery and I know a bundle about elementary bio-thaumaturgy. Do you think there's any chance someone might need a girl of my talents?"Heading for the stairs, she stopped, patted her pockets, and then turned. "Pierre. Honestly."A moment later a bicephalic brown blob bounced out from behind a bookshelf and clambered sheepishly into her proferred pocket. "Bookworms," Mel sighed, rolling her eyes. "Sharing an empathic link with you, it's no wonder I'm obsessed with invertebrates. You stay put, now. We're in an unfamiliar city."Alaric raised his eyebrow at Melisande's question. "No, I'm afraid I don't know what kind of work you could get. We're only here for as long as it takes Lord Falkmar to arrange things for us to travel north, which is probably going to be as soon as tomorrow, and being able to 'work up a little sorcery' is hardly a unique talent in Naseria; I'm not sure what kind of employment you were thinking of? Certainly, bio-magic could be of use but only if you were thinking of staying for longer! Anyway, I think I know a place where you could get a bath and nights sleep, and a meal, for not too taxing a price. Follow me, I'll lead you there."Next Update: The Corvus Company take on deadly Scorpion Warrior assassins!I hope my new style of writing this story hour is better than how it used to be; basically, I'm using far more text direct from the posts that myself and my players are making, so more is getting recorded in the story hour.I know the Corvus Company have been slogging through lots of rp'ing and stuff without any combat for a while, but trust me, that's about to change. And then there's poor Wolf's Company.. you want combat, when I do that update I'll give you combat, with blood by the bucket-load <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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